AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BY HIS EXCELLENCY LUCKY ORIMISAN AIYEDATIWA, THE GOVERNOR OF ONDO STATE AT HIS OFFICIAL DECLARATION OF INTENT TO CONTEST THE 2024 GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION IN ONDO STATE HELD AT THE GANI FAWEHINMI ARCADE, AKURE ON TUESDAY 12TH MARCH, 2024
PROTOCOL
I feel very honoured to have all of you here today to witness this epoch making occasion. I thank you for your support and commitment at all times. Distinguished leaders of our great party from all walks of life, I thank you for your kind words today. I thank you for your courage and commitment. I do not take for granted your loyalty and dedication to make our party greater and succeed at all times, before, during and after elections. You have always demonstrated this. You have always done it, and that is why our party is strong, formidable and honourable.
2. Ladies and gentlemen, a political party
is nothing if it cannot win elections. And if it wins elections, its worth is
next to nothing, if it cannot deliver great opportunities and life abundant for
the people.
Our party, the great All Progressives Congress, APC has been in power in the State
since 2017. You know what we have done. We have worked together to restore hope
and confidence to the people of Ondo State. We lit the torch of promise
and hope and carried it proudly and purposefully to every nook and cranny
of the state. Together, we have delivered jobs for youths. We have provided
quality health care, massive investment in education, industrialisation,
security, infrastructure and social services for the people. Most importantly,
we have inaugurated innovative activities which are helping to build new
infrastructure of the mind for our people, particularly the youths.
3. Brothers and sisters, our unity of
purpose as members of APC have helped our government provide leadership with
integrity. You, members of our party, have provided the leaders of government
with peace of mind, confidence, inspiration and great goodwill to concentrate
on the promises of our party to the people.
4. It is in the light of this that I wish
to request all of you to please rise to your feet and let us take a bow as a
form of respect to the departed soul of the symbol and imperator of the dream.
I speak with reverence of our late leader and pathfinder, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi
Odunayo Akeredolu SAN, CON. (Crowd take a bow). As our Governor and
leader, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu organised us, motivated us and provided vision,
character and integrity. Even in death, the world today knows of his
achievements and strides.
5. As leaders and members of the APC, we
are partakers in the glory of the government and our records of good governance
remain evident in the hearts of the people. We have come a long way and here we
are again at the verge of beginning a new journey of choosing a candidate for our
party for the November 24, governorship election. We must work together and we
must win together. We must lead together and we must succeed together.
6. Leaders and members of our great party,
the All Progressives Congress, APC, it is with regard to this that I come
before you today to humbly and officially express my interest and intention to
seek the nomination of our great party to contest for the office of Governor of
Ondo State. By the fiat of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,
I am already occupying that office as your incumbent Governor today. As you
know, I came into this office following the unfortunate demise of my boss,
our leader, mentor and pathfinder, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu SAN,
CON.
7. He chose me as the deputy governorship
candidate to contest the 2020 governorship election, and we won. We won
because he was a good man, loved and respected by the people. His yes was his
yes, his no was his no. He did not pretend nor played to the gallery. He did
not like hypocrisy, sycophancy and backbiting. He stood for merit and candour. He loved the State and its people. He picked
me as Deputy Governor not just because he loved me but because he had a vision
for the young to grow. He wanted integrity, humility, confidence and loyalty to
be the character of government. He made no pretence of his plan and desire for
succession. He was deliberate and prophetic. He said it during
our inauguration and repeatedly after that “Lucky will succeed me. Lucky
will carry on the work after me". At not one, not two nor three sessions
of the Cabinet meetings had he pronounced Lucky as his desired choice to
carry the flag after him. He was a man of vision. We will not let him
down. We will not waiver. We will not falter. We will succeed. Support me to
carry on the work. Work with me to bring the desired goal.
8. The greatest service to our people is to bring
hope, joy and life abundant. Since we came on board, we are pushing
the boundaries to do just that. We approved the payment of the January 2017
outstanding salary arrears owed public servants of Ondo State. We approved
massive recruitment of health workers to improve health care delivery. We
approved immediate release of employment letter for hundreds of our young
people into our State’s Internal Revenue Service. We not only returned all
contractors to the sites of ongoing infrastructural projects, we approved the
construction of more roads in the rural areas in the three senatorial
districts of the State, under the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing
Project. We directed the release of the sum of N1.2billion for the development
of the State owned Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology,
Okitipupa. We also approved N1billion for our University of Medical Sciences,
Ondo. We are purchasing 100 brand new patrol vehicles for our Amotekun Corps to
ensure better service. We are recruiting
hundreds of primary school teachers to fill the personnel gaps in our
primary schools. We will be providing not less than N1billion as micro
credit loans for our market women and small scale business. We will support agriculture
through farm input provision, loan access and agropreneur interventions. We
will support the transport unions with better organisation and mass
assisted vehicles. We will do even more.
9. As I begin today this journey to
secure, next month, our party's ticket for the November Governorship Election,
I ask you to support me and let us build an APC that respects and promotes
members, an APC that cares. Support me
to build an Ondo State that works.
10. Thank you very much.
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